Republicans must get their act together

The results of the Midterm election this past November showed that the American voting public gave the House to the Republicans with a firm mandate to fix the nation's problem. Many recent national polls have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that for Republicans getting ready to vote in primaries and caucuses: President Obama is beatable. According to a recent Rasmussen’s report on presidential matchups, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney enjoys a commanding 6-point lead over Mr. Obama, 45 percent to 39 percent. Even more impressive, Mr. Romney has a huge 16-point lead among independent voters who have no party affiliation. This latest polling data doesn’t mean that Mr. Romney has the nomination sewn up, although he is the only Republican candidate the numbers show can beat Mr. Obama. The bottom line is that President Obama is so unpopular among the general American public that the 2012 elections can return the GOP to the White House once the Republican nominee is crowned and has all the institutional party support behind him.

On the other hand, the ongoing competition among Republican candidates representing different and at times competing philosophies about the direction that America should be heading seems to prevent a sense and feeling of unity. Republicans are also adversed to "getting in line" and being told what to do and whom to vote for, smoke filled back rooms associated with labor unions and past Democratic candidates are not part of the current Republican mindset.So what is the one question the successful Republican candidate for the US Presidency has to answer? It is whether he or she will beat Barack Obama. The time has arrived for the Republican Party to unify and work together to drive home a winning candidate who can carry the whole nation on Election Day.

So let's take a close look at Mitt Romney who haslong been considered the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.An accomplished businessman and seasoned politician, Mitt Romney has picked up endorsements from conservative colleagues and held his own in polls pitting him against a President Obama besieged by a struggling economy and declining polls.The problem with Romney's candidacy, according to political analyst Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution, there is a sense on the right that “Romney is bright and experienced, but appears to have little in the way of core beliefs or comfort on the campaign trail”.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, and a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, is a mainstream right-winger who has used his long resume of political and business leadership to shape his image as the inevitable nominee and the candidate most likely to unseat Obama in 2012. It has largely been an effective strategy. “Romney’s been relatively steady, compared to others who have gone up and down,” assessed John Fortier, a political scientist at the non-profit Bipartisan Policy Centre. “He has a regular following among conservatives and businesspeople -- and he’s making the case that he’s a steady hand when it comes to economics and would be a fine alternative to a president who has struggled to improve the economy.” This can play well among the general voting public especially those who have been let down by voting for Obama in the past and could be of particular appeal to voters discouraged by high unemployment and slow growth.So, Romney is an attractive candidate not only for conservatives, but also for independents and disillusioned Obama supporters, by arguing that he knows how to do precisely what Obama has not done: create jobs.

So why the dilemma? Why do so many who belong to the right-wing of the Republican Party make such a passionate effort to support other candidates other than Mitt Romney. Their problem isn’t that he’s not smart; by all accounts he’s as bright as they come. It isn’t that he’s unqualified; he has some excellent leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. It isn’t that he’s has been untouched by scandal, it isn’t even his tendency to change his convictions to suit his audience; he does that no more than most politicians, just not as convincingly. His problem is his seemingly emotional indifference when appearing in public. The right-wingers are worried that Romney is a flip-flopper, an opportunist lacking principle and vision and interested solely in winning.

I know that this is going to sound disappointing, but there is no perfect or ideal candidate. Center stage does not mean that Mitt Romney has no principles, it means that to run American you cannot be either to the very left or to the very right. Obama has been trying to run American to the ground from the very left. Mitt Romney will run his Presidency from center stage. Mitt Romney will be the President of all Americans and not just those who belong to the Republican party. This is the essence of having the broadest appeal and being electable on Election Day. The American public want a President who believes in American exceptionalism, a President who loves American like they do, a President who will create jobs and not just talk about it for four years. This center stage is the place that the majority of Americans inhabit and they want their President to be there with them. Mitt Romney is the candidate that the Republicans have with the broadest appeal, so lets encourage the Republican party to get their act together and get the job done, Americans deserve it, they have waited four long years.